Pasadena woman alleges electric golf cart caught fire, destroyed home

Updated 11:35 am, Thursday, June 27, 2013

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Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last August.

Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last

Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last August.

Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last

Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last August.

Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last

Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last August.

Pasadena school teacher Joy A. Zinante is suing Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both based in Arizona, claiming an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage and burned her house to the ground last

A Pasadena school teacher who claims her house burned down after an electric golf cart caught fire in the garage has sued the cart's manufacturer.

The suit by Joy A. Zinante names Drive Electric and Zone Electric Car, both limited liability companies based in Arizona, as defendants.

Filed June 21 in U.S. District Court in Houston, the case was transferred from state district court, where it was initially filed March 23.

According to the suit, the electric cart was being charged in an electrical outlet when it burst into flames.

The fire broke out about 6 a.m., on Aug. 13 and resulted in the southeast Pasadena house burning to the ground, destroying everything in it, said Zinante's attorney, Christopher Leavitt of Houston.

"It looked like some kind of bombed-out war zone," Leavitt said of the home.

Zinante, her husband and two sons had to move and rebuild their house, he said.

Fortunately, at the time the fire broke out, Zinante's husband was in the kitchen making breakfast and heard a noise in the garage. Normally at that time he would have been at work while the rest of the family was still asleep, Leavitt said.

"By this incredible circumstance, he was in the kitchen right by the garage and got his wife and two boys and dog out of the house," Leavitt said. "Subsequently, it burned to the ground."

The suit alleges that the defendants created an unsafe design of the electric cart and failed to warn of a known hazard.

Leavitt said 10,000 to 15,000 of the carts could be in the hands of other purchasers, exposing them to risk.

"It's our belief that (the carts) were being pushed through production in China to take advantage of tax credits in 2009 for electric vehicles," he said. "It could affect a lot of people."

Zinante is seeking damages up to $1 million for property loss, mental anguish and lost wages.